Book Review: Cheese Sex Death

When I first heard about Erika Kubick and her Instagram account Cheese Sex Death, I was intrigued. I got the Cheese part but wasn’t sure where the sex and death came in. Once I began following her, I saw her perfectly lit photos of luxurious cheeses, beckoning the viewer seductively, I better saw the connection. I even later read in Joe Berkowitz’s American Cheese that Kubick held StripCHEESE, “A Decadent Night of Raclette and Burlesque” held in a performance space formerly a funeral home.

Known for her cheese popups and sultry Instagram, former cheesemonger Kubick brings cheese, sex and death together in her upcoming book Cheese Sex Death: A Bible for the Cheese Obsessed But when Kubick calls her book a Bible, what she means is that she has based her book on the Bible itself. It’s divided into the Old and New Testaments; the Old Testament is related to how cheese is made and the New Testament to the eating and enjoying of cheese. Or in Kubick’s words: “worshipping Cheesus.”

The analogy goes deeper with her discussions of the Virgin Milk, and separating chapters out as different Books: The Book of Cheese Types, the Book of Storing, etc. There’s even a little cheese prayer. As a delightful bonus, there are beautiful images of stained glass windows that celebrate cheese. And of course, there are those tantalizing shots of cheese that Kubick is  known for.

While devout Christians may take some offense to the theme of her book, it’s a reminder that cheese and the divine were once intertwined. Kubick starts the Old Testament telling the folktales and history of cheese, including how cheese was used in worship of Inanna, a Mesopotamia goddess of love and war.  Kubick writes: “Cheese is no less than a miracle. It’s the extraordinary meeting of two worlds: human and natural. It has the power to ground us in a connection to Mother Nature, the people who create blessings from Her gifts, and the history of civilization.” She also brings out the point that cheese is the result of sex - animals only produce milk when they have offspring; so it’s not just sumptuous images of brie. And death? She explains: “It’s resurrection through delicious rot—an acquired taste that is specific to the individual cultures that have historically relied on these fermented foods.”

The book is truly meant for the consumer of cheeses, novices and expert cheese lovers alike. She goes through the scientific processes of cheesemaking, as well as discussing different milks and categories of cheese. But she also gets into the nuts and bolts of enjoying cheese like how to talk to a cheesemonger, how to store cheese, how to cut cheese, knives and other utensils. Kubick goes into depth about pairing cheeses with other foods, providing a framework on pairing as well as offering eight plating suggestions for different times of the year. And of course there are some recipes, including Parmesan chips, Ricotta, and an unexpected one: Grilled KimCheesus - cheese and Kimchi.

The most comparably recent book to Cheese Sex Death is Tenaya Darlington’s 2013 Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese: A Guide to Wedges, Recipes, and Pairings. Darlington is known as Madame Fromage and calls herself a Courtesan, also bringing together sex and cheese as well. But Darlington’s book is more concerned with giving an almost encyclopedic discussion of cheeses made here and now. She writes descriptions of different cheeses as well as both food and drink pairings, divided by cheese type. It definitely feels like an offshoot of Darlington’s start with Di Bruno Bros, where she ended up blogging about all their cheeses.

Kubick’s book is more soup to nuts with its discussion of origin stories, scientific processes of making cheese to the making and plating of cheese. She goes through the different categories of cheese but she presents more of a quick summary of cheeses in comparison to Darlington. This book feels like a theoretical framework for loving cheese, which makes sense since she structured it around the Bible. Both books pair really well since Darlington’s provides in depth exploration of what cheeses one might want to find while Kubick’s helps actually process the buying, serving, and eating of cheese.

The book also embraces the idea that cheese doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive. The section on how to talk to cheesemongers is sublime since some people may be easily intimidated by the sheer amount of cheese and their own lack of knowledge. She embraces the high and low of price points with cheese and pairings, including lower priced cheeses and descriptions of what to look for in good cheap cheeses. She even includes Cheetos and cheap beer as her pairing suggestions in the book. She also repeatedly tells the reader that these are guides, not strict laws, and that they should try things out and see what works for them.

With a few exceptions, both books really focused on the United States and European cheesemongers. It would have been nice to see a little bit more on cheesemaking in other parts of the world.  Overall, Cheese Sex Death is an excellent addition to a cheese obsessed’s book shelf. For Kubick, she describes the book as the beginning of a journey for cheese lovers to find what works best for them.